Merged So what's next for Trump?

[Jimmy Higgins]

I suppose PACs can just fund things outside the GOP. But it'll be difficult without a competent General running things at the GOP to get money where it is needed.

 

[Elixir]

I suppose PACs can just fund things outside the GOP. But it'll be difficult without a competent General running things at the GOP to get money where it is needed.

Surely Trump has promised his billionaire beneficiaries that he's going to fork out another couple trillion$ for them as soon as they safely deliver the Whitehouse to him.
The problem, I believe, is moving the money Trump needs like, yesterday (a half billion, min), and doing it in a manner that won't be traceable to them.
Whoever is being tapped probably hopes Trump will drop dead and obviate the need for those kinds of funds.

 

[Patooka]

He's defaming EJC again, which shows anyone who is capable of judging character that Trump has no self-control, no sense of personal liability, and is in fact too stupid to run a Cinnabon. But sure, let's let him decide the fate of NATO.

Someone needs to follow up with Sen Collins if she still believes Trump is capable of learning.

 

[Shadowy Man]

He's defaming EJC again, which shows anyone who is capable of judging character that Trump has no self-control, no sense of personal liability, and is in fact too stupid to run a Cinnabon. But sure, let's let him decide the fate of NATO.

Someone needs to follow up with Sen Collins if she still believes Trump is capable of learning.

If anyone needs a cognitive test it’s Susan Collins!

 

[Elixir]

He's defaming EJC again, which shows anyone who is capable of judging character that Trump has no self-control, no sense of personal liability, and is in fact too stupid to run a Cinnabon. But sure, let's let him decide the fate of NATO.

Someone needs to follow up with Sen Collins if she still believes Trump is capable of learning.

If anyone needs a cognitive test it’s Susan Collins!

If it’s a verbal test she might die of old age before she completes it.

 

[lpetrich]

GOP 'Headed Down the Path Towards Extinction'—Political Analyst - Feb 27, 2024 at 11:05 AM EST

Mentioning the resignation of Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel, niece of Mitt Romney, and the then-potential appointment of Donald Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump in her place. An appointment that went through.

William F. Hall, adjunct professor of political science and business at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, told Newsweek the potential appointment of Trump's daughter-in-law was inconceivable and warned it would send the party into free fall.

"Regretfully and also very sadly, it now genuinely appears that the former American political party, formerly known and referred to as the 'Grand Old Party' (GOP), may well now be headed the down the path toward extinction, similar to the former American political party known as the: 'Don't Tread on Me' political party," Hall said.

"Don't Tread on Me" party? I couldn't find anything on it. That's the caption in a famous flag, the Gadsden Flag, that shows a coiled-up rattlesnake.

But there was a previous party that dwindled into nothingness: the Federalist Party, one of the first two major US parties. The other one, the Democratic-Republican Party, soon split in two. During the War of 1812, the Federalist Party wanted a much more conciliatory approach to Britain, and that made it very unpopular. The DR's seized on that, recruiting Fed politicians, and it helped that the DR's had co-opted much of the Fed platform. Thomas Jefferson, a DR, ended up governing much like a Fed, with his Louisiana Purchase and his military adventures in North Africa.

So is he saying that the Republican Party will go the way of the Federalist Party? There is a chance that that could happen if that party stubbornly sticks to Donald Trump, sore-loser election denial, hard-like opposition to abortion, and anti-trans and somnolence culture warring.

RmD got forced out because of Republicans' losing a lot of seemingly winnable races. But will paying Donald Trump's huge legal bills do anything for downballot candidates?

 

[lpetrich]

Trump’s GOP is already dying | The Hill
Dying? I wouldn't be that optimistic, because the Republican Party still has not gone the way of the Federalists and the Whigs. But it does show how much Donald Trump has been the Mule of US politics (Isaac Asimov Foundation Trilogy character who disrupts the expected timeline).

Lara Trump is nominally co-chair alongside former North Carolina Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley. Both received former President Trump’s endorsement for the role. In practice, the power dynamic is more like when the Roman emperor granted his family a shared consulship with an irrelevant senator. In case any Republican was confused about where true power rested, Trump began her tenure atop the RNC with a sweeping purge of the unfaithful.

noting RNC fires dozens of employees after Trump-backed leadership takes over - The Washington Post - "About 60 people were told they were no longer employed, according to a person with direct knowledge" - "One of the people familiar with the firings said data, political and communications staffers were affected".

Seems rather Stalinist

Donald Trump not only controls the RNC but also the House Speakership, and with Mitch McConnell stepping down as leader, also soon the Senate.

But Republicans’ willingness to bow to Trump on nearly every issue is making their party staggeringly unpopular with voters — and not just the rank and file. Colorado Rep. Ken Buck stunned Capitol Hill on Tuesday by announcing that he’d simply had enough of Trumpism and would resign in just about a week. In an interview with CNN, Buck slammed Congress as “dysfunctional” and remarked that many of his constituents were sick of Trump.

It isn’t just Buck who’s had enough of Trump’s constant demands for loyalty and submission. Some of the party’s biggest fundraisers are already sitting on the electoral sidelines rather than raise or donate a penny to Trump. Now Newsweek reports that Lara Trump’s RNC takeover is driving even lifelong RNC financiers out of the party.

Big GOP donors hoped for an alternative to Trump. Now some are giving up. - POLITICO - 09/25/2023 05:00 AM EDT - "The number of big-money donors giving to super PACs focused on the GOP primary is down from 2016."
and
Lara Trump's RNC Takeover Sparks Fury From Some Republicans

Peter Henlein on X: "Lara Trump is now Co-Chair of the RNC. ..." / X

Lara Trump is now Co-Chair of the RNC.

After a lifetime of donating to every GOP nominee and multiple down ballot candidates every cycle….I’m out.

I donated to help win elections, not to maintain the lifestyle of a billionaire.

No point donating now.

(vid link)

"The MAGA movement’s final purity purge may prove to be one too many." Final? The Trumpies may do even more purges of the party that they took over.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

But will paying Donald Trump's huge legal bills do anything for downballot candidates?

Stop asking rational questions.

 

[Elixir]

Y’know what? It probably doesn’t matter.
Once they install an autocrat, annoying downballot situations can be handled on a case by case basis, with eliminations, corrupt adjudications and “acting” appointments. Hangers on will get the hint, and scram or accept their own irrelevance, in a best case scenario.

 

[lpetrich]

Trump makes radical overhaul of RNC at furious pace | The Hill

The party reported having just more than $8 million in cash on hand at the beginning of 2024, following an underwhelming fundraising year in 2023.

By comparison, the DNC and Biden campaign has built up a massive funding base, entering 2024 with $117 million in cash on hand. The Biden campaign has broken its own grassroots funding records four months in a row.

“It’s clear that donors aren’t buying what the RNC is selling,” DNC executive director Sam Cornale wrote in a memo released Wednesday. “Between dire finances, abysmal fundraising, frantic mass firings, and a string of devastating electoral losses, the RNC is barely able to stay afloat — much less build a winning operation for the general election.”

That may be overconfident, I must concede. But the Republican Party going the way of the Federalists and the Whigs would be such a great sight to see.

The Federalists sank themselves with an unpopular position, being conciliatory to Britain in the War of 1812, and the Republican Party is doing the same with abortion, election-denial conspiracy theorizing, right-wing culture warring, Donald Trump, and likely other such things.

The Whigs split apart and disintegrated about slavery, and Donald Trump may do that to the Republican Party, making it split into pro-Trump and anti-Trump factions.

But looking at later party realignments, both parties survived, first the Republicans in the New Deal Era, then the Democrats in the first decade of the present era, Gilded Age II. Both parties spend several years out of power, and when they returned, they largely accepted the new political and ideological landscape and tried to work within it.

Will the Republican Party spend several years out of power on a national level and in many states before it accepts what the Democrats decide on?

 

[ideologyhunter]

They should have been demolished after the '08-'09 super-recession, which their deregulation mania led to. They should have been demolished after 2020, when, once again, Republicans' response to covid ran a buzz-saw through the economy. And then, as a party, they tried to overturn the election. They aren't gone, they are still vital, they could retake the White House this year. This crowd knows how to propogandize like no other party in our history. They play the nastiest politics this country has ever seen, they've based their crusade on lies, and it works for them.

 

[Elixir]

That may be overconfident, I must concede. But the Republican Party going the way of the Federalists and the Whigs would be such a great sight to see.

I won't be confident until January comes and goes and Biden is still in the White House. Winning the election will be only the first step.

 

[lpetrich]

That may be overconfident, I must concede. But the Republican Party going the way of the Federalists and the Whigs would be such a great sight to see.

I won't be confident until January comes and goes and Biden is still in the White House. Winning the election will be only the first step.

Fair enough. But that ought to include holding on to the Senate and getting back the House.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Hyuk! Trump is suing ABC News because George Stephanopolis
called him a rapist. This is something Trumpo The Clown should have
left alone. Now it keeps this issue legally alive for months now. Just
before a big election. Entertainment like this you cannot buy.

Trump sues ABC and Stephanopoulos, alleging defamation over Mace interview

Former President Trump sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos on Monday, alleging defamation over the anchor’s questioning of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) about her endorsement of Trump. The March 10 …

thehill.com

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Stephanopoulos would likely meter his language correctly. And this is ignoring that Trump is a public figure (with a civil conviction).

 

[Copernicus]

Hyuk! Trump is suing ABC News because George Stephanopolis
called him a rapist. This is something Trumpo The Clown should have
left alone. Now it keeps this issue legally alive for months now. Just
before a big election. Entertainment like this you cannot buy.

Trump sues ABC and Stephanopoulos, alleging defamation over Mace interview

Former President Trump sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos on Monday, alleging defamation over the anchor’s questioning of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) about her endorsement of Trump. The March 10 …

thehill.com

All Trump has to do is convince a court that the type of sexual abuse he engaged in fell short of actual rape. I'm guessing that he really likes New York's rather nuanced legal definition of the term, which led a jury find him liable for sexual abuse, but not rape. Now, this lawsuit was not filed in New York, but in Florida. The problem is that Stephanopolis is not a conservative or a Republican, so there will likely be some bias there to see things Trump's way, depending on which judge gets the case. OTOH, the legal definition of rape may be different in Florida. So a smart judge would just throw the whole thing out before it got to trial. After all, Trump isn't likely to win in the end, and Stephanopolis will only find the size of his viewing audience increased by all the drama.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I will bet ABC had lawyers vet Stephanopolis's interview very carefully
before airing it. Trump just caused himself a lot of trouble.

 

[scombrid]

Or it's just more publicity for Trump. Do these things ever really hurt him?

 

[ZiprHead]

Fact check: Trump, telling a completely fictional story, falsely claims he released ‘the tape’ of his Zelensky call

Former President Donald Trump told an entirely fictional story on Saturday about how he had supposedly outwitted his Democratic opponents by releasing “the tape” of the 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that was a key factor in Trump’s first impeachment.

Speaking at a Saturday campaign rally in Ohio, Trump claimed he let Democrats make “wilder and wilder” claims about what he said to Zelensky, “and then we released the tape.” Trump proceeded to claim that when Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who was then the speaker of the House, “heard” this tape, she was angry that she had been deceived by her allies’ previous “false” descriptions of the call; he claimed that Pelosi said to “her people”: “What the hell did you get me into? You hear this call? He didn’t do any of this stuff!”

Trump claimed that Pelosi was told, “Let’s just pretend he did and keep going forward.” He continued, “After they made up the story and then after that they heard the tape, they died. They didn’t know that phone call was taped. That was one good case of a phone call being taped. And they were taped and they got caught.”

 

[Shadowy Man]

Fact check: Trump, telling a completely fictional story, falsely claims he released ‘the tape’ of his Zelensky call

Former President Donald Trump told an entirely fictional story on Saturday about how he had supposedly outwitted his Democratic opponents by releasing “the tape” of the 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that was a key factor in Trump’s first impeachment.

Speaking at a Saturday campaign rally in Ohio, Trump claimed he let Democrats make “wilder and wilder” claims about what he said to Zelensky, “and then we released the tape.” Trump proceeded to claim that when Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who was then the speaker of the House, “heard” this tape, she was angry that she had been deceived by her allies’ previous “false” descriptions of the call; he claimed that Pelosi said to “her people”: “What the hell did you get me into? You hear this call? He didn’t do any of this stuff!”

Trump claimed that Pelosi was told, “Let’s just pretend he did and keep going forward.” He continued, “After they made up the story and then after that they heard the tape, they died. They didn’t know that phone call was taped. That was one good case of a phone call being taped. And they were taped and they got caught.”

All he needs to do is play the tape for us. I believe it is with his investigators who are in Hawaii finding out "things you wouldn't believe" about Barak Obama.